Thursday, October 4, 2012

If a cardinal can be heretical . . .

Why does Juan de la
Cruz have to wear a blinder?

“The former
archbishop of Milan and papal candidate Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini
said the Catholic Church was "200 years out of date" in his
final interview before his death . . .” [Reuters, 1st Sept
2012.] PHL is decades out of date and not surprisingly, we are
economic laggards? I have been asked numerous times: do you think
Juan de la Cruz can change his culture? If that means remaining
decades out of date, then we can be assured that we shall be economic
laggards?

It is well known that
within the Vatican there is tension and the fact that Juan de la Cruz
has opted to be with the conservatives does not mean the opposing
view is evil? Blind obedience was never a measure of one’s faith –
as the scribes and the Pharisees had to be told?

I am back in Eastern
Europe and one of the four business unit managers in my client's
organization confided that her success seems to be creating tension
within the company. And I thought about the debate within the Vatican
– and explained that it is what “dynamic tension” is about, and
it is a positive! And she would easily relate to the example because
under communist rule there was no such tension – they were simply
subservient and Godless. And so when the first domino fell, the rest
followed suit.

We are very smart people.
We know what we need to do and not be the embarrassment of the region
as an economy. But we are so wedded to the past and thus move as
though in slow-motion if not frozen to inaction? [The feisty Solita
Monsod would call it “bureaucratic atrophy” (Philippine Daily
Inquirer, 8th Sept 2012) although she like the late cardinal was
talking about sexual harassment/abuse. But the reality is respect if
not subservience to hierarchy comes with the other side of the same
coin, i.e., abuse.]

Consider: PIDS, the
state-run think tank, knows that we are deficient in investment and
manufacturing – and by definition, technology. Yet we have opted to
proudly trumpet the aggressive investments of the same half-a-dozen
of our tycoons when our gross investment as a nation pales in
comparison with regional norms. And in manufacturing and technology
we’re not regional much less global players. That is not to
minimize the contributions of our tycoons but to demonstrate that we
are of the old-cacique school. We haven’t developed a bias for
investment and technology and manufacturing, for example, because
they are not the characteristics of our success model – i.e., it is
one of hierarchy and monopoly which, sadly, undermines transparency
thus perpetuates and accounts for our endemic corruption? (I am not
also minimizing our efforts behind the uptick in our competitiveness
rankings, which is laudable, yet we must keep our eye on the ‘North
Star.’ And in global competition that means satisfying regional if
not global investment norms, demonstrating a bias for innovation,
aggressive education or talent and product and market development.)

And so while we’re
pulling our best minds and ideas together to address the power issue,
for instance, (and our infrastructure gaps filled and our road maps
in agribusiness and manufacturing, among others, done and executed)
we cannot unwittingly limit our options because of parochial cum
hierarchical bias – which we mistake for patriotism? We don’t
want to flirt and risk continuing to lag the region even as we pursue
these major initiatives – recognizing that in the global
competitive arena no one respects tradition and hierarchy the way we
instinctively do? (In fairness, even among our elders there was
tension: those perceived as being old school were labeled 'matanda
sa una'.)

[Note: After turning my
blog postings into a book I shall henceforth write in the first
person]

Genesis of this Blog

Now a book

Advocacy

About Me

I started writing to columnists and newspaper editors at the end of a trip to the Philippines over Holy Week in 2008 – to echo the frustrations expressed by friends and relations that were much louder and more intense than prior trips. My first thought was: with so much talents and skills how could the country be the basket case of Asia? Are we simply too nice as a people? Since then I have kept abreast with local news and opinions.
I have been a business consultant (since 2003) focused on Eastern Europe. My principal client in Bulgaria, a consumer-products maker, was chosen by the European Business Awards in 2011 as among Europe’s best from the 15,000 companies vetted for the selection. I started my career in 1968 in human resources in the Philippines. I then joined a Fortune 500 company in 1981, working with its Manila subsidiary for seven years and later moved up to its Asian regional headquarters and finally assumed a global responsibility (in global strategy, organization and business competitiveness) until my retirement. I have likewise done consulting work in the Philippines. I live with my family in Stamford, Connecticut, USA.